Efficiency of Surface Treated Electric Vehicle Gears

Sammanfattning: Gears are an important part of many machines. This thesis is a study in how new mechano-chemical surface treatments can be used to improve the efficiency in gear transmissions, specifically those relating to electric vehicles. The primary equipment used for this research is the FZG-test rig, a rig dedicated for the evaluation of lubricant and gear behaviour. To achieve an understanding of the effects of surface treatment, how gear contacts interact, and how geometry affects the efficiency, a substantial background study was performed, mixing various fields of knowledge and incorporating results from previous projects utilizing the FZG-test rig. Throughout the experimental phase of the project many goals had to be adjusted based on various problems encountered. Notable gear wear was observed in addition to the fact that many of the examined gears fell outside some of the specified manufacturing tolerance requirement. As a result, the data acquired from the testing is inconclusive. It is not possible to clearly establish the correlation between the effects of the new surface treatments method and efficiency due to the uncertainty in the interaction between lack of quality and a previously untested lubricant. These results are however still of benefit as to establish future test conditions and to identify the potential problems with FZG-testing.